This invention pertains to milking parlor structures and more particularly to improved milking parlor construction over that conventionally found in the prior art. The prior art is well aware of milking barn constructions or parlors of the modern type wherein a milking pit is sandwiched between juxtapositioned cattle stands wherein cattle are allowed to enter the milking parlor structure to be milked and to incidentally be fed. The feeding acts as an enticement to attract the individual dairy cattle to the individual stations at which milking of the cow may take place.
In the prior art structures, such as Vandenberg U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,528, a U.S. patent directed to RAPID EXIT MILKING BARN, there was disclosed in general a conventional milking parlor construction which has suffered from several deficiencies.
Firstly, in most milking parlor constructions there is an inability to provide a modular unit that may be indexed to accommodate the individual dairy farmer on an individual basis. That is, the structures are normally such that the individual dairyman cannot be selective as to the number of milking stations he wishes to employ in one or more of the milking parlor structures. The prior art structures are also deficient in requiring sophisticated, uniquely and specifically configured support structure for making up the parlor construction in order to accommodate existing conditions and/or situations.
Additionally, prior art structures having an automatic feed system have suffered in that the feeding mechanism has generally, due to wear and tear caused by the cattle entering and leaving the individual stations, become misaligned so that almost continual maintenance in order to keep the mechanisms operative is necessary. Additionally, the prior art structures have required supporting structure which has created cumbersome egress and entrance corridors, not to mention the increased cost of installation.
With the herein disclosed improved milking parlor construction, there is disclosed a basic unit or module that comprises a central, hollow vertical member from which the feed bowl and accompanying shroud and individual exit gates forming the individual milking stations may be hung, wherein the vertical member is securely supported in concrete or, alternatively, supported through a plate and bolt mechanism which in turn is tied to the concrete floor making up the milking parlor structure.
Additionally, the vertical upright member is of hollow construction and has superpositioned thereover a feed conveyor and the like which feeds fodder to the individual uprights which have communication to the feed bowls by which fodder may be fed thereto. Since the vertical uprights are of strudy steel construction and have appropriately spaced tie-in support structure, a rigid end-structure results which is not easily misaligned due to the passage of cattle through the structure.
Additionally, the individual gates making up the milking parlor construction may be remotely operated, on an individual or pluralistic manner so that one or more of the cattle may exit either simultaneously or serially to the exit corridors adjacent the individual cattle stations.
Also disclosed are unique mechanisms for delivering metered amounts of feed to the individual feed bowls making up each of the milking stations of the structure. Because of the modular aspect of the structure, a selected number of milking stations may be designed to fit into existing structures without the need to resort to the design of specialty mechanisms thereby decreasing the attendant manufacturing and construction costs involved in milking parlor barns.